4 Land Magnetic Observations, 1911-13 



It may be of interest to summarize briefly the operations of the nine years' 

 work of the Department, on land and sea, from 1905 to 1913, inclusive: 



Mileage covered on the cruises of the Galilee (1905-08) and the Carnegie (1909-13), the magnetic 



elements having been determined completely, on an average, about every 175 miles. . 160,600 



Mileage covered by land expeditions in the establishment of about 2,500 stations in all parts 



of the Earth, at an average distance apart of 75 miles, roughly 800,000 



Total mileage traveled by ocean and land expeditions, in round numbers, about forty times 



the circumference of the Earth 1,000,000 



Number of land expeditions sent out 38 



Number of Arctic expeditions cooperated with 4 



Number of countries in which magnetic work was done: 



Africa 28 



Asia 10 



Australasia 7 



Europe 8 



North America 13 



South America 13 



Island groups, Atlantic Ocean 8 



Island groups, Pacific Ocean 13 



Island groups, Indian Ocean 3 



Total 103 



In connection with these operations, a non-magnetic vessel, the first of its kind, 

 the Carnegie, was built in 1909; an office and laboratory building, containing 44 

 rooms, was erected in 1913 at Washington to provide the necessary facilities for the 

 varied research work of the Department (Plate 1); 7 magnetic instruments, for 

 special use on land and at sea, were devised and constructed in the workshop of the 

 Department, and about 125 articles and publications on various phases of the work 

 have appeared under the authorship of various members of the investigational stafT. 



Adding to the work of the Department that accomplished by other organiza- 

 tions, it may be said that on January 1, 1914, the general magnetic survey of the 

 globe was fully two-thirds completed. It is gratifying to say that the surveys by 

 other organizations are being conducted in cooperation with our design of a general 

 magnetic survey of the globe. The magnetic standards used by the respective 

 organizations are compared from time to time with our standards, thus making 

 possible a strict correlation of all magnetic data obtained the world over. As an 

 indication of the general interest evinced, the following resolution may be cited, 

 which was passed at the St. Petersburg meeting of the International Association 

 of Academies held in May 1913: 



The committee, in view of the work of making a magnetic survey of the globe, particularly on 

 the oceans, undertaken by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, resolves that it is of the highest 

 importance that similar work be completed as soon as possible, in those countries where no surveys 

 exist or where they have been made at epochs relatively distant from those of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of Washington. 



Great Britain has just undertaken a new magnetic survey of the British Isles 

 as based on the fundamental Riicker and Thorpe survey, and various surveys have 

 been recently either completed or initiated by European nations. In South America 

 the Department may take advantage of the valuable work being conducted by 

 Argentina and by Brazil, and in North America the magnetic researches of the 

 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and of the Canadian Government are 

 at its service. In return, the Department furnishes its own acquired data freely 

 whenever called upon. 



